Jonny Evans has warned that Manchester United will land a significant psychological blow on their city rivals if they can repeat what they did to Liverpool in 2009 by beating Roberto Mancini's men to the title this season.

Three years ago United claimed the championship ahead of Rafael Benítez's side by only four points. City lead United by two points with the rivals meeting on 30 April in what is shaping to be the Premier League title decider.

Asked if pipping City could be mentally significant, Evans said: "I think Manchester United have done that to a lot of teams over the years. A couple of years ago [three] Liverpool were pushing for the title, probably the closest they have come to it in a long while, and we managed to win the league. People always talk about that for the Rafa Benítez situation [he left at the end of the following season] and it's kind of gone down in history for that. I just think, beating City, it's more about the Manchester thing than anything else."

Evans believes the meeting with City next month will be the biggest ever derby. "I think so, definitely," he said. "But it all depends on the next few results from both teams. It's going to be a massive atmosphere, and whoever comes out on top in that game will fancy themselves to go on and win the title. It will be a deciding point, but I definitely think there's going to be points dropped by both teams along the way. But, obviously, whoever gets the upper hand in that game will have a great chance of winning it."

United lost 6-1 in the reverse fixture in October and Evans said: "I don't think it was just a case of losing that game, it was how we lost it that was really hard to take. Teams lose games. We've lost games at home to City in the past, and obviously this season they've gone on to be our main title contenders. But I think just because this is the first time in a long while the two teams from Manchester have been going for the title, it would be great to come out on top.

"I think it will always be a blot on the history of this club because of the manner of it. But there's more to it for us, in terms of beating Man City to win the league, rather than getting beat 6-1 by them in a game."

Despite the defeat Evans can see the funny side of it. "I don't go out that much now. I haven't been out since the 6-1 match," he said, joking. "There's obviously a lot more banter going around and a lot more City fans coming out of the woodwork."